Firstly, Power Play is a project that began as a serious series about a groundbreaking moment in Norwegian history. It was meant to be a conventional biographical film about Gro Harlem Brundtland, the woman who became Norway’s first female prime minister. Yet the creators chose a different path. Johan Fasting, co-creator and known for the acclaimed football drama Home Ground, explained that the aim was to tell stories from the outside, from the streets. The show was crafted to critique power structures in an anti-authoritarian way. In spirit, it echoed the bold, camera-wielding energy of seventies anarchists who seized a discarded camera to document the Labor Party.
That blend of irreverence and sharp wit helped power Play stand out at Canneseries last April. The festival, one of the most influential in the TV world, honored the series with its premier award and a top music prize. Fasting notes that despite the playful tone, nearly every event depicted in the series actually happened, a truth that adds an unsettling layer to the humor.
piece of the puzzle
Set at the tail end of the 1970s, the show opens with a Labor Party that has long held power but is beginning to show cracks. Gro Harlem Brundtland rises within the party, balancing a doctor’s instinct for social issues with a fierce political will. A new environment minister emerges, and debates over abortion rights take center stage. Brundtland’s practical and stubborn leadership challenges some longtime party loyalties, including Reiulf Steen, the vice-chairman who senses that Brundtland may steer the party in a direction that could threaten established paths.
The series does more than tell Brundtland’s personal story. It frames the broader arc of Norwegian labor and social democracy as it evolved through a transformative period. The writers describe a landscape where the left built a strong welfare state while political power was being renegotiated. This look at the past helps explain how contemporary Norwegian politics arrived at its current form, and it invites viewers to consider how much has changed and how much remains rooted in that era.
Anarchist and anarchist
Key creative decisions came from Yngvild Sve Flikke, known for the film Ninjababy, which blends offbeat humor with sharp observations about life’s awkward moments. Flikke describes Power Play as a project that fits perfectly with his appetite for bold, border-pushing storytelling. He loved the audacious scripts and the deliberate disregard for authority they depicted. The team frequently added more ideas, chasing a sense of wild energy that thrives on creative risk.
The show plays with a strange internal logic where satire and realism mingle. The seventies visuals sit alongside contemporary Oslo, a deliberate choice that reflects a belief in authenticity rather than budget-driven nostalgia. The creators explain that the mix is driven by conviction. When the scripts landed, the tone felt achievable and true, as if the past and present were colliding in a single, restless city.
For a biting political satire in mockumentary form, the team looked to influential works that shaped the genre. Armando Iannucci’s The Thick of It and Veep were acknowledged as influences, alongside Iannucci’s In the Loop, which examines a chaotic war scenario. The Manchester music scene is brought to life through 24 Hour Party People, a film that captures a spirit of rebellion and communal energy. The producers state that the attitude in that era is what they aimed to channel, using it to propel a sense of youthful recklessness that drives the show forward.